Ms McVey dramatically quit as Work and Pensions Secretary last week in fury at the divorce deal - helping to send the PM's Government into meltdown.

And since returning to the backbenches she has posted a series of messages on her social media account lashing her critics.

Ms McVey, who used to be a presenter on GMTV before she launched her political career, uploaded a video admitting 'change is difficult' but vowing not to 'live in fear' and to stand up for the UK as the crunch talks reach their final stages.

The Tory MP for Tatton in Cheshire, began sending a flurry of tweets and retweets on Sunday - just as Mrs May's premiership hung by a thread.

Her fresh attack on the PM's Brexit plan comes as leading Tory rebel Steve Baker today declared it is 'now or never' to oust Mrs May amid growing signs the attempted coup against her is failing.

While Jacob Rees-Mogg, who launched the all out attack on the PM last week, warned she will be 'odds on' to lead the Conservatives at the next election if she is not ousted now.

In her Twitter onslaught, Ms McVey hit out at some of the ministers and officials at last week's crunch Brexit Cabinet meeting, which signed up to the divorce deal triggering the devastating wave of resignations.

She linked to a Mail on Sunday story reporting that some ministers became so alarmed at her behaviour in the stormy five-hour meeting they considered calling security.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Ms McVey wrote: 'Hilarious; seems a bit of straight talking from me to ask Cabinet members to vote on the most important matter in a lifetime made them crumble!

'Makes you wonder if this is how feeble senior members have been in negotiations with the EU over our future?'

And yesterday she posted a video shot in her office in Parliament talking about what life is like back on the backbenches and slamming the PM's Brexit blueprint.

She said: ‘Today is my first day back as a backbencher, and it is like having your very first day at work.

‘I have got to now find a new office, because I can’t keep this, my old ministerial office – obviously. I have got to find new staff and start all over again.

‘Change is difficult, and I am prepared for that, because you can’t live in fear. You have got to know the options, you have got to know what change is involved and then go forward and do that, which is exactly what I am doing.

Esther McVey took aim at her former Cabinet colleagues who said they became so alarmed at her behaviour in last week's crunch Brexit Cabinet they nearly called security

The ex minister also hit back at a Twitter critic who tore into her over the controversial Universal Credit reforms, which she was in charge of delivering while in the Cabinet

The former minister also retweeted a string of messages backing her after she quit the Cabinet in fury at the PM's Brexit divorce deal

‘Because you have got to believe in something, and I believed that Withdrawal Agreement wasn’t good enough for the people of the UK.

Mogg mocked after he admitted his pot to oust May had gone a bit 'Dads Army'

Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured at the Brexiteer press conference in London today) even suggested Mrs May was now 'odds on' to lead the party into the next election

Jacob Rees-Mogg was mocked by gleeful critics today after he admitted the shambolic plot to oust Theresa May had gone a bit 'Dad's Army'.

The Eurosceptic humiliatingly conceded this morning that too many MPs believed there should only be a Tory no-confidence ballot if Theresa May loses a Commons vote on the package thrashed out with the EU.

Asked at a press conference if his attempt to unseat the PM had been exposed as a 'Dad's Army' operation, Mr Rees-Mogg compared himself to the hapless lead character.

'I've always admired Captain Mainwaring,' he joked.

Mr Rees-Mogg even suggested Mrs May was now 'odds on' to lead the party into the next election - although he also insisted the 'strength of feeling' was much stronger than the number of letters calling for challenge implied.

Tory Steve Baker warned it might be the last chance to change leader. 'I do think it's now or never,' he said.

The failure to reach the key threshold, days after Mr Rees-Mogg declared an all-out attack on Mrs May's Brexit deal, sparked amusement among some Tory MPs.

One said that Mr Rees-Mogg had been assured he was going to lead the rebels 'over the top' as the 48th MP to send a no-confidence letter but ended up in abject failure.

‘I’ve heard a rumour that the ERG thought they were going to get 350 million letters a week going in,' an MP joked, in a reference to the pledge for NHS cash during the EU referendum campaign.

‘And I believe in the people of the UK, so I am going to fight for what is best for them.'

During last week's stormy five-hour Brexit Cabinet meeting, Ms McVey had repeatedly urged the PM to hold a formal vote so that ministers could put their opposition to the deal on the record.

But her pleas were snubbed by the PM, and reportedly descended into a rowing match as officials told her that is not the way Cabinet decisions are agreed.

In her video, Ms McVey also vowed to stand up for her local area and fight from the backbenches to improve education and social mobility.

While in the Cabinet, Ms McVey was in charge of the roll out of the hugely controversial Universal Credit scheme.

The Government's flagship welfare reform involves wrapping six benefits payments into one and tapering off payments so that it always pays to get back into work.

But it has sparked massive criticism - including from many Tory MPs - as research showed that many of the country's poorest households could be left thousands of pounds a year worse off.

Speaking in her hand-shot video posted on her Twitter, Ms McVey declared that she had 'fought' and won an extra £4.5billion in last month's Budget.

And she hit back at a Twitter critic who attacked the UC reforms and suggested that unlike benefit claimants, she would not lose money for quitting her Cabinet job.

She wrote: 'Hi Paul In answer to your question. By resigning, my salary has been halved.'

It comes as Tory Brexiteer rebels were today mocked as their stalling coup to oust Mrs May was compared to Dad's Army.

The Eurosceptic humiliatingly conceded this morning that too many MPs believed there should only be a Tory no-confidence ballot if Theresa May loses a Commons vote on the package thrashed out with the EU.

Asked at a press conference if his attempt to unseat the PM had been exposed as a 'Dad's Army' operation, Mr Rees-Mogg compared himself to the hapless lead character.

'I've always admired Captain Mainwaring,' he joked.

Mr Rees-Mogg even suggested Mrs May was now 'odds on' to lead the party into the next election - although he also insisted the 'strength of feeling' was much stronger than the number of letters calling for challenge implied.

Tory Steve Baker warned it might be the last chance to change leader. 'I do think it's now or never,' he said.

Esther McVey - the Liverpudlian TV star turned Tory MP who took on Theresa May over Brexit

Esther McVey found fame as a GMTV presenter in the 1990s before turning to politics, and is one of the party’s strongest media performers

Esther McVey found fame as a GMTV presenter in the 1990s before turning to politics, and is one of the party’s strongest media performers.

The 51-year-old, who attended Cabinet as employment minister under David Cameron, was the most high-profile Tory casualty of 2015 when she was ousted by Labour in Wirral West.

She lost her seat after the unions mounted a nasty campaign in her constituency, which was surrounded by a sea of red.

At a distasteful comedy night on Remembrance Sunday in 2014, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who was then a backbencher, joked about how activists in Liverpool had wanted to lynch her.

To applause, he said that at a meeting he had attended they asked: "Why are sacking her? Why aren't we lynching the b******?"'

She returned to Parliament last June after taking George Osborne’s seat in Tatton, and was made deputy chief whip in November last year.

In January, she made a remarkable comeback to the Cabinet table when she was appointed Work and Pensions Secretary.

Last month, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Miss McVey revealed how she had been put into foster care as a baby after she was born to young parents.

She said: ‘I believe most people in their life will fall upon tough times at some point. I want to give the message that anyone can succeed given the opportunity.

But she sent Mrs May's Cabinet into meltdown when she dramatically quit in fury at the PM's Brexit divorce deal.

She joined Dominic Raab in storming out in fury after the PM put her blueprint to her ministers in a stormy five-hour cabinet session.